[B-Greek] Word enquiry

James Ernest j.d.ernest at bc.edu
Sat Oct 28 23:44:34 EDT 2006


Before this comment ran right off the rails (clicking rocks and
whatnot), I thought it was headed in a direction that might put us on
course for an excursion from Plato to Gadamer on the difference
between wisdom or understanding, on the one hand, and on the other the
skill or cunning or artisanry (techne) needed for accomplishing this
or that practical task with or without any profound understanding of
its goodness or truth or beauty. But that would have been a bit far
afield for this list.

I doubt the etymology of techne, whatever it may be, could shed any
light on the meaning of technology--except possibly in the imaginative
way so loved by the likes of Heidegger and Gadamer: if truth
(a-letheia) is unveiling, why shouldn't technology be rock-banging
(tek, tek, tek) . . .

James Ernest



On 10/28/06, Carl W. Conrad <cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu> wrote:
> Forwarded for: "Peter Mickelson" <PMICKELSON at sad6.k12.me.us>
> Date: October 28, 2006 2:03:57 PM EDT
>
> As an engineer (one who applies ingenuity) it has long been a concern
> for me that the word
> "technology" -- my very trade -- has become a four-letter word, as in
> a recent headline
> "Technology's Danger to Children" in which it was made clear that
> "technology" actually means
> obscene pictures, language, solicitations, movies and other creations
> of the mind of man that can
> harm young minds -- not in a museum, of course, but only when
> accessed over the Internet.
>
> So, I began a hunt to get to the core of this, and discovered (no
> surprise) that TECNH and LOGOS
> were originally combined to be a vowel encompassing the history (the
> word) of what one does
> (technique) -- or as one dictionary puts it "what mankind does to
> meet its needs and wants."
>
> Well, of course, that's a very limited view also, because any girl
> robin knows that her egg will
> roll right off the tree branch if she doesn't first create a nest out
> of selected architectural
> materials, found at her disposal, to create a gravitational potential-
> energy well.
>
> Then I turned to Greek dictionaries (my wife and her family are from
> Greece) and discovered a
> connection between "TEK" and TEC."  So, I smacked two rocks together
> and guess what?  They made the
> unique sound "tek!"
>
> Suddenly I could see this little girl, chipping a couple of stones
> together -- tek, tek, tek (or
> maybe even "TEC, TEC, TEC") and coming up with the first knife
> blade.  "NH!" she exclaims.
> ("YESSS!" in today's vernacular) or "I did it!"  And ushering in the
> Stone Age.
>
> Can any of you follow this deranged reasoning with me, and suggest
> any more support that might help
> me go back beyond Greek to more ancient times and follow this path?
> Language is a symbolic thing,
> and I'm betting it has been so since it's conception.
>
> Of course, I also stand open to the humbling academic put-downs that
> one so often receives for
> their imagination.
>
>
> Pete Mickelson
> <n.p.mickelson at ieee.org>
>
>
> Carl W. Conrad
> Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
> 1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
> cwconrad2 at mac.com
> WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/
>
>
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